But when Google announced earlier this month that it was selling an HDMI dongle that allows you to stream Netflix, YouTube and Web content to an HDTV, I couldn’t resist. I ordered a Chromecast within minutes after the product was announced during a news conference in San Francisco.

There were a couple of reasons for this impulse buy. First, it only costs $35, and came with three free months of Netflix, even for existing subscribers. Since Netflix’s streaming service is $8 a month, that meant the Chromecast hardware only costs $11. That alone made it a no-brainer. (The Netflix deal was so popular that Google ran out of promotion codes for it, and the promotion ended after just one day.)

But I also was interested in the ability of the Chromecast to display Web pages – and thus almost any video that can be played in them – on a TV. While Apple TV will do that using AirPlay, I like the fact that Chromecast uses browser software built into it. In addition, AppleTV requires you to have Apple hardware for AirPlay. Chromecast is platform-agnostic.

My Chromecast arrived Monday. It comes in a small box that includes the dongle – which plugs into an HDMI port on any HDTV – a USB cable, a power adapter and a small HDMI cable. The latter is used in case the Chromecast hardware is too wide for the available port on a TV.

The hardware setup is very simple. You plug the Chromecast into an HDMI port, and use the USB cable to connect to an available USB port for power. If your TV set doesn’t have a spare USB port, you can plug the cable into the supplied power adapter.

The Chromecast uses a feature common to most modern HDTVs that automatically switches the TV to the source that’s active. So, if your TV is new enough, when you turn it on the Chromecast’s setup screen appears. You’re instructed to go to google.com/chromecast/setup on either a PC, Mac or an iOS or Android mobile device. I used the Chrome browser running on a Mac.

The setup process involved choosing a Wi-Fi network and connecting to it, then making sure the PC/smartphone/tablet is on the same network. You’re shown a code on the TV and setup device’s screen, and if they match, the connection is made. You give your Chromecast a unique name for your Wi-Fi network, and then you’re ready to start “casting”, which is what Google calls sending content from your device to the TV.

If you are using Chrome on a PC or Mac, you’re also instructed to install the Chromecast extension. This is what allows you to send Web pages from the browser to the Chromecast.

Although the setup is easy to understand as Google guides you through the process, what happens next is not. Chromecast currently works with two services – YouTube and Netflix. But once you’re done with setup, you’re shown a screen with a beautiful landscape photograph . . . and no instruction as to what to do next, other than the words “Ready to Cast”.

If you’ve had experience with streaming content to an HDTV, you expect to have apps available on the device you’re using. For example, a Roku or an Apple TV gives you a screen with icons you can select to launch specific services. There’s no such screen here, because the apps aren’t present on the Chromecast. Instead, you must use Web pages or apps found on a PC, Mac, smartphone or tablet.

For example, if you want to watch Netflix, you’ll need the latest version of that app on your smartphone or tablet (Netflix streaming from a PC or Mac’s Web page isn’t yet supported). You launch the app and you’ll see an icon at the top of its display that lets you start watching on the TV. The same goes for the YouTube app (though YouTube streaming does work from the Web browser).

[Note: Netflix on the Web uses Silverlight, which Chromecast does not support. However, it turns out that the Netflix player itself can do casting, just not the page holding it. The best explanation of this comes from Engadget, which updated its own review with this:

Update: We have discovered that previous sentence is a bit misleading regarding Netflix’s website compatibility with Chromecast. To be clear, you cannot mirror Netflix in Chrome using the casting feature because Netflix on the web is powered by Silverlight. However, the Netflix web player has Google Cast built in, just as the YouTube web player does, so you can instruct Chromecast to play a Netflix video using any browser, not just Chrome.]

It’s the same experience when casting from a Web browser. You start and stop streaming via the icon that appears at the top of the page you want to send.

When you “cast” video from Netflix to the TV, you’re not actually streaming from the device. Rather, your device is working more like a remote control – content streams directly over the Net to the Chromecast hardware. This means you can close the app on your phone and do something else with it while streaming continues.

In my tests, Netflix and YouTube were quite watchable, though the image quality wasn’t as good as streaming via Apple TV or the apps built into my Samsung TV.

The ability to send Web content to the Chromecast is labeled as Beta, and it’s easy to see why. I was able to stream full episodes of “CSI” and “Under the Dome” from CBS.com, but half the time the audio and video were out of sync. This is something that will improve over time, but it can be quite annoying when it happens now.

Google is working with other content providers to make their apps work with Chromecast. According to Time’s Techland blog, apps from Pandora, Redbox Instant, Vimeo and others are in the pipeline. HBO Go and Hulu are rumored to be working on support as well.

Google’s Chromecast is full of potential, and for a mere $35, I’m willing to forgive its serious early shortcomings. I expect the product to improve quickly and dramatically. At this price, you don’t have much to lose if you come along for the ride.

Dwight Silverman | Techblogger, social media manager

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